Aircraft.



W. F. LUFF & A. W. TURNER.

AmcRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13. 191?. V/ A 1,278,179. Patented Sept. 10, HHS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET W. F. LUFF 6L A. W. TURNER.

AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION HLED FEB. 13. 191?.

Patented Sept. 10, 1918.

2 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

. heavier-than-air type,

likewise 'suitable p l uns and ammunition for use in such guns,

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEroE.

WALTER F.13UFF AD .ALFRED WM. TUBNEB1,'OF HANDSWRTH, BIRMINGHAM,ENGLAND. y f Y AIRCRAFT.

.Application filed February the following is aspeciication,referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relatesV to aeroplanessuitable for use to carry one, two,several or many passengers or to carryl merchandise, for use tocarryartilleryikewise-v to carry missiles to be dropped ffrom skylocations.

This invention has for its object theconstruction of an aeroplane ofgreat floating stability, for use -for peaceful pleasure, or also foruse as a It'ifhas been construction o flying machines of the to use acentrally situated elliptical body or shell with lateral supportingmembers,

v,such supporting members being rotatably lhaving four -helical blades,

mounted upon two shafts respectively extending transversely of the saidelliptical body. It has also been previously proposed to usehorizontally and vertically'mounted propellers in the construction ofaeroplanes, and'it has likewise been previously proposed to usecollapsible-propellers, in some cases would be pivoted to collapsearound` a common center, in other cases with two blades hinged tocollapse near a common center but to in addition also expand upwardtothe or extend beyond the position above the horizontal.

We will now'proceed to describe with reterence to the accompanyingdrawings, the manner in whi h our, invention is constructed and used. if

Figure 1 represents a front view of our improved aircraft structure.

Fig. 2 represents a back view of tlieairi craft structure shown at Fig.1.

Fig. 3 represents an elevation of the collapsible propeller in theopened position.

.- Fig. 4 represents a plan of Fig. p

Specification of Letters latent.

ltermed the eiigine-room one on eachv side,y

all of whichvapor engine,

Fig. 5 represents an elevation of the col Qlapsible propeller in theclosed position.

. 'F ig. '6 represents a plan ot Fig.'5.

In carrying out the construction of our invention, we provide acentral-house a as a Patented sept. .10, 191s. 13,1917. seriaiitaieane.

central structureto contain a'smalle'r house,

v b, within which are provided the engine, petrol vsupply 'Storagevessel or vessels, also electric accumulators and all other Yrequisites, providing also ample room Ifor. the pilot to be located andwork. Outside-theengine-,room b, near each` end of the central-house aare situated 'shellguns orshot-guns at locations c, one at each end,these guns being protected by suitable armor-plating, notr shown.

From each side of the central-housel a extend lower spars d the end ofreach spar d supporting and carrying a box-shaped plane or plane-housee, one box-shaped plane or wing at house a.

' Atv either end of yeach plane-house e is provided an engine f thatdrives a propeller g, each plane-house e being thus provided with anengine f anda driven propeller g.

"We provide suitable rudders h, but the usual tail-piece is dispensedwith entirely. Dneach side of the engine-room b situated within thecentral-house a is provided a quick-firing gun which is located'at Thecrew would usually include a separate gunner for each vro the gunscarried on our aircraft structure,

ducting-wires y' carried Von the upper spar (Z1, and through suchconducting-wires 7' the required electric sparking is made lwithin theseveral engines (such engines are not shown) to so start and continuetheneces'- sary alternate explosions within each cylinder of each petro-engine or other explosivesuchengines not being shown because they arenot new in themselves.

The electric-currentto any one or lmore engines situated on ourimprovevaeroplane, or aircraft-structure can be cut off by the pilot toso stop one, two, three, or all of the enginesas mayV be required.

At one end of the central-house'we provide a large propeller k' drivenfrom an eneach side of the central and the pilot from withf in-theengine-room b would control all the 'propellers, by means ofelectric-current con"-A vgine situated Vwithin the central-houseengine-room b.

In some cases we use two additional engines and medium sized propellersZ, at the same end. of the machine as that` where the largercentral-house propeller 7c 1s sltuated, but such additional engines andtheir propellers would be situated between the central-house a and thetwo plane-houses e, one on each side of the central-house a, the spars dbeing extended in width into a suitable conformation and area, to safelycarry the engines and their propellers.

We in some cases provide one, two, or more horizontally situatedpropellers m, such propellers being carried .on shafts such as n thatextend from the engine-room b upward vertically within the central-housea, then pass through the roof-ridge of centralhouse a and thence upwardoutside the roofridge a suitable distance, as shown at Figs. l and 2.These horizontally situated ropellers may in some cases benon-collapsible, as shown in use in Figs. l and 2, butin other cases weconstruct the propellers with a closing arrangement having a centralsllding boss and hinged top parts, to so permit of the horizontallysituated propellers expanding out into the required horizontal positionfor use in rising vertically and quickly, or of closing somewhat like aclosed umbrella.

Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive illustrate the several parts of our collapsiblepropeller, where a five-bladed propeller is shown having each of itsblades p hinged to the upper-end of a connecting-rod g, at r, the lowerends of such connectingvrod g being hinged to the central sliding-bossat s. The inner or root-end of each blade of our collapsible propelleris hinged to an upper central disk t, Jfrom which extend snugs u thatare provided to prevent the blades expanding upward beyond the truehorizontal position suitable for driving purposes. We have not shown thetwist or curve of each blade, but simply shown their position whenexpanded into the driving usable position, likewise their position whencollapsed and out of use.

To'the upper central disk t, we solder or otherwise secure or attach thehollow cone o, the apex w of which will offer the minimum of resistanceto atmosphere when the machine is rising.

The external chamber 0 of the roof of the central-house a of ourimproved aeroplane or aircraft-structure, also of the roofs of our twoplane-houses or wing-houses e, is so constructed as to present anexternal convex configuration with a corresponding under, internalconcave roof configuration which is provided as a recess or pocket (ineach case) that always retains a cushion of air, that supports all threehouses, a and e to a certain extent, irrespective of the continuous rushof air through each of the houses a and e 'under the cushioned air,while the machine is traveling.

In using our improved aeroplane, we start the engines f that drive thepropellers g, or start the engine situated within the engineroom o todrive the propeller 7c; at the same time we start one of the engineslocated within the central-house engine-room I) to thereby revolve thetwo or more horizontally situated propellers m thereby causing thestructure to rise; the course of the traveling aeroplane thenbeinggoverned by the pilot using the rudders 71. and the house-shaped orboxshaped wings 0r elevating-planes e.

When the pilot wishes to descend, he would slacken the pace of thevarious engines, thus reducing the-speed of the main revolvingpropellersg, likewise of the horizontally situated propellers m and when using ourhorizontal collapsing propellers, would by the slowing down of the speedcause the blades p to collapse from the expanded position shown at Fig.3, into the collapsed closed position shown at Fig. 5. One greatadvantage to be gained by adopting and using our horizontal propellerson our improved aeroplanes, is that in rising from a small field orother fenced-in location bounded by a closely situated hedge, fence, orwall, our machine can rise vertically without any preliminary long runon the ground. l

The description hereinbefore set forth relates to the use of our centralhoused and wing-housed aeroplane as a dreadnought war machine. When wewish to use our invention for peaceful services, we simply dispense withthe guns and their munitions and then use our large structures asomnibusaeroplanes. Nevertheless we can construct small sized machinesunder this our invention on same lines, for use of one, or two personsper voyage.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our saidinvention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declarethat what we claim is 1. In an aeroplane the combination with a centralhouse, a propeller mounted in front of said central house, horizontallyextending propellers arranged above said house, spars extendinglaterally from the opposite sides of said house, box-shaped planescarried by the outer ends of said spare, a propeller mounted upon therear end of each of said box-shaped planes, a motor arranged within eachof said boxshaped planes for driving said propelleis, a verticallyextending rudder arranged in front of each of said box-shaped planes,andthe motors arranged within the box-shaped planes and said centralhouse adapted to be controlled from said central house substantially asand for the purpose specied.

2. ln an aeroplane the combination with a central house, said centralhouse having an inclined roof, said inclined roof having a convexoonguratomhorzontallj extendin configuration substantially as and forthe l Propellers arranged above sald nclmed roo purpose specified.

a large propeller arranged in front of said In testimony whereof We a'lxour signaeentral house, boxshaped planes arranged tures in the presenceof two witnesses.

6 at each side of sald house and lying n the same plane, a smallpropeller arranged at ggUgNER the rear of each f said box-shaped planes,a vertical rudder arranged in front of each Witnesses: of saidbox-shaped planes, and the tops of WILLIAM A. TURNER, 10 said box-shapedplanes being of a. convex MAUDE M.l TURNER.

